Three-stage barbeque cooker and a method of operating same

ABSTRACT

A three-stage cooking apparatus and method for automatically cooking food products are provided. The three-stage cooking apparatus has a housing, a first conveyor within the housing for transporting a food product to be cooked thereon, a heating element located above the first conveyor and a condiment dipper located at an end of the first conveyor. The condiment dipper is constructed and arranged to receive the food products from the first conveyor for dipping the food products in a condiment contained therein. A second conveyor is located at an output of the condiment dipper to receive dipped food products thereon. A second heating element may be located within the housing below the first conveyor and above the second conveyor to cook the food products on each conveyor. Another heating element may be located beneath the second conveyor to cook the food products while the same are traveling on the second conveyor. In addition, a method for automatically cooking food products is provided. The method includes loading of food products onto the first conveyor; cooking the food products on the first conveyor using the heating elements; transferring the partially cooked food products into the dipper; coating the food products with a condiment in the dipper; transferring the dipped food products onto the second conveyor; cooking the food products on the second conveyor using the heating elements; and dispensing the cooked food products from the cooker into the receptacle.

This is a divisional, of application U.S. Ser. No. 08/587,154, filedJan. 16, 1996, pending

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a cooking apparatus and morespecifically to a method and associated apparatus for performing athree-stage barbecue cooking operation carried out in an automatedmanner.

It is generally known to cook foods in a device including a conveyingtype mechanism on which a carrier for the food is transported. It isalso known in the art to dip the food into a sauce or the like to seasonthe item to be cooked during the transporting process. Particularlyrelevant in this regard, are U.S. Pat. No. 3,499,380 to Gongwer and U.S.Pat. No.4,103,606 to Gitcho. However, both of these patents have theproblem of including a separate enclosed basket-type element on theconveyor to carry the food product. Such a basket is shown in FIG. 9 ofthe '606 patent. The basket elements enclose the product that is to becooked and dipped in the sauce. Therefore, the basket is dragged throughthe sauce with the product so that the food can be coated with thesauce. This leads to the undesirable result that the basket iscontinuously dipped into the sauce thereby contaminating the sauce eachtime it travels through the sauce. The sauce-coated basket is thensubjected to heat during cooking which consequently bakes the sauce ontothe basket. As a result, the baskets develop a build-up of baked-onsauce which inhibits performance of the device. It would, therefore, beadvantageous to dip only the food to be seasoned rather than dipping andcoating the food carrier element of the cooking apparatus.

Furthermore, each of the above-mentioned patents discloses indirectcooking of a food product. For example, the heating elements, which areusually in the form of hot coals, are placed at the base of theapparatus and heat the bottom level, but only indirectly heat the toplevel of a conveyor carrying the food. This cooking arrangement also hasa disadvantage of unevenly cooking the food. Also, a longer cooking timeis required to cook the food, due to the less direct heating.

Thus, a need has arisen for a method and apparatus to more efficientlycook and flavor a food product in a sauce or the like wherein the foodproduct is cooked again after the food product has been dipped in thesauce.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To this end, the present invention provides a three-stage barbecuecooker method and apparatus in which meat or other food product isplaced on a conveyor and is cooked thereon from two directions. The foodis then transported to a condiment dipper which covers the food productin a condiment, and in a third step, the food product is dispensed backonto a conveyor and transported to cook the food again. Finally, thefood is deposited, fully cooked and seasoned, at a receptacle on thecooker.

Specifically, in an embodiment, the present invention provides athree-stage cooking apparatus having a housing; a first conveying meansfor transporting a food product to be cooked thereon located within thehousing, the first conveying means having a first end and a second end;a heating element located above the first conveying means; a condimentdipper located at the second end of the first conveying means, thecondiment dipper being constructed and arranged to receive the foodproducts from the first conveying means for dipping the food products ina condiment contained therein; a second conveying means located at anoutput of the condiment dipper constructed and arranged to receivedipped food products thereon; a second heating element located withinthe housing below the first conveying means and above the secondconveying means to provide cooking of the food product on each conveyingmeans; and another heating element located beneath the second conveyingmeans constructed and arranged to cook the food products from belowwhile the same are traveling on the second conveying means.

In an embodiment, the present invention provides a method forautomatically cooking food products. The method has the steps of:providing a cooker having a first conveyor means, a condiment dipperlocated at an end of the first conveyor means, a second conveyor meanslocated at an output of the condiment dipper, a plurality of heatingelements located within the cooker to cook the food products while sameare transported on the first conveying means and the second conveyingmeans, and a receptacle at the end of the second conveying means forreceiving the cooked food product; loading food products onto the firstconveyor means; cooking the food products from above and below using theheating elements; transferring the partially cooked food products intothe condiment dipper; coating the food products with a condiment in thecondiment dipper; transferring the coated food products onto the secondconveying means; cooking the food products from above and below usingthe heating elements; and dispensing the cooked food products from thecooker into the receptacle.

It is, therefore, an advantage of the present invention to provide athree-stage barbecue cooker apparatus having separate heating levels forcooking food on two sides on two different levels.

It is another advantage of the present invention to provide a metallicmesh conveyor that conducts heat such that a heating element can cookthe food therethrough.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a three-stagebarbecue cooker in which the food is directly placed on the transportingconveyors without a food carrier basket.

A further advantage of the present invention is that it provides thatthe food item is transported into the sauce or the like without acarrier basket being pulled through the sauce.

Yet another advantage of the present invention is to provide athree-stage barbecue cooker having an automatic sauce level maintenancesystem.

Still another advantage of the present invention is to provide athree-stage barbecue cooker providing faster cooking and thus requiringless space thereby providing a more compact barbecue cooker unit.

These and other advantages of the present invention will be described inand will be apparent from the detailed description of the presentlypreferred embodiments and from the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view partially in cross section of anembodiment of a three-stage barbecue cooker of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detail view of a conveyor of an embodiment of thethree-stage barbecue cooker of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a three-stage barbecue cooker of thepresent invention generally at 10. The cooker 10 has a body 12 includinga base 14. The body 12 incorporates a hood 16 with a vent 18 for therelease of smoke from the cooker 10.

Also illustrated in FIG. 1 is a loading magazine A food product 22 to becooked, for example, chicken wings and/or the like, is deposited intothe magazine 20. The magazine 20 is arranged over a first conveyingmeans 24 so that the food product 22 is evenly distributed over thefirst conveying means 24. The loading magazine 20 is described furtherbelow with reference to FIG. 2.

The first conveying means 24 is preferably constructed of a stainlesssteel wire mesh belt which is capable of conducting and transmittingheat therethrough from below. The food product 22 travels on the firstconveying means 24 in a direction indicated by arrow A. In theembodiment illustrated, the food product 22 is cooked from below by aplurality of gas flames 26 connected to a gas pipe 28 having a fitting30 to connect to a gas supply. The food product 22 is also cooked fromabove by an additional upper plurality of gas flames 32. Of course,other known heating elements may be implemented by those skilled in theart. As a result, the food product 22 is cooked on both sides while ittravels on the first conveying means 24. The food product 22 is at leastpartially cooked by the time it reaches the end of the first conveyingmeans 24.

At the end of the first conveying means 24, the food products 22 arethen dropped off of the end of the first conveying means 24 into acondiment dipper 34. The condiment dipper 34 is preferably shaped like apaddle wheel. The dipper 34 has a plurality of compartments 35 to holdthe food products 22 in a somewhat separated arrangement which providesa more even coating of a condiment 48. A deflector shield 36 is providedto prevent the food products 22 from falling too far off the edge of thefirst conveying means 24 and to also assist in directing the foodproducts 22 into the dipper 34.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the first conveying means 24 is driven by amotor 36 located in the base 14 of the cooker 10. A chain 38 isconnected to a sprocket 40 on the first conveying means 24 and drives asprocket 42 on the motor 36. The chain 38 also rotates the dipper 34 bymeans of a central sprocket 44 and an idler sprocket 46. As the dipper34 rotates counter clockwise in the embodiment shown, as illustrated byarrow B, the food products 22 are drawn through a supply of thecondiment 48. The condiment 48 can be, for example, a barbecue sauce,seasoning mixture, etc.

The supply of the condiment 48 may be accurately maintained at apredetermined level by a ball float 50 connected to a sensor 52. In thismanner, the condiment 48 is accurately maintained in a dip trough 54. Inan embodiment, the dip trough 54 is filled by inserting the condiment 48into an opening 56. The condiment 48 enters the dip trough 54 through achannel 58 which is formed by the dip trough 54 and the deflectingshield 36.

A drain tube 60 is also provided for periodic cleaning of the dip trough54. The drain tube 60 facilitates maintaining cleanliness of the cooker10 and enables the cooker 10 to conform to health requirements. The diptrough 54 also has a dispensing ramp 62. As the food products 22 emergefrom the condiment 48 contained in the dip trough 54, they aretransferred from the dipper 34 onto the dispensing ramp 62 andsubsequently deposited onto a second conveying means 64 for furthercooking. The second conveying means 64 is driven by a second motor 66via a drive sprocket 68 on the second motor 66. A second chain 70 isconnected to a sprocket 72 on the second conveying means 64. The cookedfood products 22 are thereby conveyed on the second conveying means 64in a direction indicated by arrow C.

As illustrated, the gas pipe 28 has a second plurality of gas flameheating elements 74 which further cook the food products 22 therebelow.Also illustrated in FIG. 1 is a lower heating element 76. The lowerheating element 76 additionally cooks the food products 22 from belowthe second conveying means 64 so that both sides of the food products 22are cooked.

As a result of cooking on both sides on the two conveyors 24, 64, thefood products 22 may be cooked much faster than in the prior artdevices. In addition, since the food products 22 are cooked on bothsides on two levels, less space is required for the conveying means,thereby providing a smaller device. Once the food products 22 reach theend of the second conveying means 64, the cooked food products 22descend onto an exit ramp 78 and into a receiving bin 80. An operatorcan simply unload the bin 80 for a fresh supply of cooked food products22.

A drip pan 82 is also illustrated in FIG. 1. The drip pan 82 collectsgrease and other run off of condiment 48 and other splattering resultingfrom the cooking process. The grease and other run off on the drip pan82 may be drained via a drain tube 84 to keep the drip pan 82 relativelyclean during the cooking process.

In an embodiment, a fire extinguishing means 85 is provided for safety.If an excessive flare up occurs within the cooker 10, the fireextinguishing means 85 activates to put out the flare up.

FIG. 2 illustrates a partially cut-away plan view of the three-stagebarbecue cooker 10 of the present invention. The hood 16 has beenremoved for clarity. As illustrated, the loading magazine 20 is shownhaving five separate sections delineated by dividing walls 86 to betterdistribute the food products 22, i.e. chicken wings and/or the like, onthe first conveying means 24. In the embodiment shown, five rows of foodproducts 22 are illustrated. However, any number of food products 22that would fit on the first conveying means 24 could be cooked at onetime, as long as some space remains between the food products 22 so thateven heating is possible.

Also illustrated is the first conveying means 24. As previouslyindicated, preferably the first conveying means 24 and the secondconveying means 64 are constructed from stainless steel. Of course,other heat conducting materials may be implemented.

It should be understood that various changes and modifications to thepresently preferred embodiments described herein will be apparent tothose skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention andwithout diminishing its attendant advantages. It is, therefore, intendedthat such changes and modifications be covered by the appended claims.

We claim:
 1. A method for automatically cooking food products in acooker having a first conveying means, a condiment dipper located at anend of the first conveying means, a second conveying means located at anoutput of the condiment dipper, a plurality of heating elements locatedwithin the cooker to cook the food products while being transported onthe first conveying means and the second conveying means, and areceptacle at the end of the second conveying means for receiving thecooked food products, the method comprising the steps of:loading thefood products onto the first conveying means; cooking the food productsduring transport on the first conveying means using at least one of theplurality of heating elements; transferring the cooked food productsinto the condiment dipper; coating the food products with a condiment inthe condiment dipper; transferring the coated food products onto thesecond conveying means; cooking the food products during transport onthe second conveying means using at least one of the plurality ofheating elements; and dispensing the cooked food products from thecooker into the receptacle.
 2. The method of claim 1 further comprisingthe step of:arranging the food products in rows prior to loading.